When talking about Niantic’s smash hit for Android and iOS, Pokémon GO, the most common statistics brought up are CP and HP. It is these stats that are used to determine how powerful and how sturdy a Pokémon is respectively, but beyond that, there are other numbers that we have to be aware of when playing this game. These are so-called “secret stats” that can separate two similar Pokémon apart from each other, or two of the same kind that may have varying potential. Then you’ve also got move sets, where the moves’ efficacy is based on both damage per attack and damage per second.
As you can see, the world of Pokémon GO stats isn’t as cut-and-dry as what CP and HP make it out to be. That may, at times, prove to be too overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Check out this new Pokémon GO strategy guide, which offers a closer look at the secret stats and what’s in it for you as far as those stats are concerned.
1. Explaining The Basic Individual Values
Individual values or IVs are assigned to each of the 150-plus Pokémon in the game. These include their attack, defense, and stamina. Attack pertains to the damage each Pokémon deals out in battle, and when determining base damage for a move, the Attack rating is taken with the move’s individual attack power. Defense is, well, the defensive rating – specifically, though, this shows you how much damage you can receive when attacked, less damage, of course, being better. Stamina refers to the cool-down time you have in order to charge special moves. Pokémon with higher stamina take less time to charge their special moves up.
These IVs will vary from one Pokémon variety to another, and they may even vary from one Pokémon to another one of the same kind. Add those IVs up to the move sets belonging to each individual Pokémon and you have an unpredictable world of pocket monsters, where no one Pokémon is truly identical to another.
2. The IVs Are Hidden, But You Can Determine What They Are
Although it may seem illogical to make IVs hidden, the fact remains that they are among the game’s secret stats. They are not visible in plain view, but there is a way to determine what the numbers are. And here’s how to do it.
The first thing to do would be to take several visible stats and attributes – these include the Pokémon’s species, their CP, HP, Stardust cost per power-up, marker position on the CP arc (visible on a Pokémon’s profile), and your trainer level. And since it could take a lot of calculation to determine the individual values, even if it’s just three of them, there have been some calculators posted that automatically tell you what they are. This site, for example, is a good place to start when trying to compute IVs.
Now that you know which visible stats to take and where to go to in order to automatically determine each individual IV, the next thing you should do is judge whether your Pokémon are powerful or not, based on the IVs. These figures range from a scale of 0 to 15, with 0 being the worst possible rating and 15 being the highest. So if the calculators tell you you’ve got a 14/15/14 Pokémon, for instance, that creature is almost perfect, and needs just one point each in two IVs in order to reach that level. One that’s rated 5/3/2, on the other hand, needs lots of improvement, and it’s safe to say that that’s a rather weak Pokémon.
3. It’s More Than Just Prioritizing High CP
For most players, it’s as simple as separating the high-CP Pokémon from those with low CP, when trying to find out which Pokémon should be kept, and which ones should be put out to pasture or transferred out. But those who have been playing the game for some time know that the moves can also make a big difference, and may sometimes make a BIGGER difference. Each of your Pokémon’s moves come with two hidden stats; you wouldn’t be able to see DPS and speed figures, as only damage is visible.
4. Speed Trumps Damage, Speed X Damage = DPS
Sure, you’ll be able to see the damage rating of an individual move, but damage isn’t the most important of a move’s three stats. Rather, you’ll want to look at speed, as that’s oftentimes what makes a move really dangerous. Multiplying speed by damage would give you the damage per second, or DPS rating. DPS is the ultimate numerical yardstick when it comes to measuring whether a move is effective or not, though that has to be combined with specific advntages and disadvantages to show you just how effective one move is compared to another with similar or identical DPS.
5. Try This Damage Calculator In Google Docs
Click on this link and you’ll be directed to as damage calculator for all of the moves in Pokémon GO. That calculator will also show you damage, speed, and DPS figures, so make sure you check it out on a regular basis so you know which move to make. In terms of quick moves, Psycho Cut ranks as the best one out there, but there are several other moves that aren’t too far removed from Psycho Cut’s stats. Always remember the highest, most powerful quick moves per type, and you’ll have a better chance of winning more battles.
6. Critical Hit Isn’t That Critical At All
Critical hit, or should we say, critical chance, is another stat that is listed in the above mentioned Google Docs file. But it isn’t really too “critical,” with figures so low that you wouldn’t want to bother dealing with that stat. Most every other stat is useful to players in one way or another, but critical chance, we’d say, is one area where Niantic may have missed the boat. There’s always a chance, though, that it may be given more importance on future updates.
7. About Time And Energy
There’s also a time statistic, and that’s going to show you the duration it takes for moves to launch. While slower moves are often more powerful, they are easier for opponents to avoid; you can take advantage of that same situation when trying to dodge your opponent. The energy stat is most important when talking about quick moves. It’s going to show you the base energy figure that gets added on top of your special move bar when you make an attack with one.
8. Read This, And You’ll See Why Vaporeon Got Nerfed
In the recent Pokémon GO update, one of the biggest takeaways and observations was the fact that Niantic had “nerfed,” or weakened Vaporeon substantially. Prior to the update, Vaporeon was the most powerful Pokémon for many, but now that the new version is out, it’s easy to understand why Vaporeon was such a beast on the battlefield at first. This Pokémon came with an extremely high CP and way-above average IVs. Its Water Gun move, which is filed under the common quick category, also had an extremely high DPS rating. But now that it’s been nerfed, Vaporeon is no longer the same threat it used to be, though it’s still more than solid compared to other Pokémon.
Back in the day (read: back in July), it was so easy to use Vaporeon’s Water Gun quick move without having to use its special move, but expect that to be a bit harder going forward.
9. Type Advantages Aren’t As Prominent In Pokémon GO
Compared to the original Game Boy titles from the late ‘90s, type advantages and disadvantages don’t make the same impact. It appears as if Niantic didn’t want battles to be determined by type advantages, and when talking about getting an edge over an opponent, regardless of type, so-called “super-effective” stats are capable of doing up to 12.5 times the damage. “Not very effective” attacks, which are also a thing in this game, are worth only 0.8 times the usual damage.
This would also apply if you’ve got dual-type advantage with the Pokémon you’re currently using fore the fight. So what does this mean for you, the player? It means that having the right IP and move set can give you an advantage over an opponent, even if the type disadvantage is very, very evident. But aside from the secret stats we’ve been covering in this article, you also need to work manually to dodge and to attack. Your manual timing, at the end of the day, may be the real game-changer out there in the battlefield; it’s possible for players with an IV and type disadvantage to pull off a win, provided the timing is on point right away. Similarly, not even your move set and IV advantage will help you if you’re slacking off and not timing your moves properly; that too applies if you’ve got the IV and move set advantage over your opponent.